HYPNOTHERAPY

Hypnotherapy is therapy which takes place whilst the client is under hypnosis. It is used to bring about positive and beneficial change to a person's life. The hypnotic trance is a completely natural state in which the conscious "thinking" mind is quietened. This allows the unconscious mind – where our habits and impulses are stored – to become more accessible and open to positive suggestions for change.

Hypnosis will help you to let go of unwanted habits, or thought and behaviour patterns. It will enable you to process past memories or experiences in a healthier way so that they no longer have a negative effect on your life in the present.

Hypnosis is a gentle, yet extremely effective, treatment. It will help you.

What will it feel like to be hypnotised?

The hypnotic trance feels very different for each individual: some people remember everything that was said and others remember very little. This is not of great importance as your unconscious mind will hear and remember everything that it needs to in order to make the necessary beneficial changes.

A hypnotic trance is a natural "altered" state into which we fall several times a day. For example, when driving a regular route in a car, we sometimes do so in a kind of automatic "trance" state, or when we are completely engrossed in a book or a task to the exclusion of interruption. "Flow" activities like painting or craft often create a kind of pleasant trance state for the person doing the activity.

Please be reassured that a hypnotic state cannot be induced without your permission: it is not something which is done to you; you are in complete control. All hypnosis is self hypnosis, done with your willingness and consent. There is no unconsciousness and no way of getting "stuck" in a trance. For some, there is a clear sense of going to a different level of consciousness but for others there is no sense of "going under" into a hypnotised state. Some people feel a heaviness, others a lightness, others just the chair beneath them!

Whatever you feel is the right way for you to enjoy the benefits of the therapy.

​How many sessions?

My aim is to help you to reach your goals in the shortest possible time. Indeed, hypnotherapy is a comparatively rapid treatment and most problems can be addressed in around one to three sessions.

It is the flexible nature of hypnotherapy which makes it so useful: it offers both a practical solution enabling clients to address the problem and “get on” with every day life, as well identifying and resolving any deep rooted causes behind the problem.

For many people, a short term solution which enables them to overcome a problem is enough. For example, a client with a binge eating problem might have a few sessions to address the actual problem of binge eating and reduce or stop the physical act. Another client might come for just one session to overcome a phobia such as fear of flying.

However, for other clients it can be important to get to the root cause of the problem and find out from where it originated and why. Hypnotic techniques such as regression enable a client to go back and search through their memories and experiences to find out what might have caused the problem. Hypnosis then helps the client to find a better way of reprocessing and resolving the conflict.

What will actually happen in a session?

Sessions begin with a relaxed chat about the problem including, for example, how it started, when the symptoms are better or worse and what have been the obstacles to overcoming it in the past.

I will generally use NLP or CBT techniques where appropriate and then use hypnosis to bring about the changes you want. I will always make a recording of this part of the session which you will listen to daily for the following week or two so that the changes really embed in your mind.

I understand that some clients are happy to share their emotions and experiences (in what is, of course, a confidential and safe space) but others find it understandably difficult to share traumatic memories. Please be reassured that I can use many effective techniques which do not require you to share the details of your past.

​Stage hypnosis

Stage hypnosis is very different to hypnotherapy as it is simply entertainment rather than a form of mind therapy to help people to overcome their difficulties.

The people who take part in stage hypnosis still exert free will - the hypnotist cannot coerce them to do anything that they do not actually want to do.

So the person hypnotised on stage to behave like a chicken will, perhaps on an unconscious level, actually want to be the centre of attention and make the audience laugh (and perhaps enjoy the excuse of being able to blame his or her outrageous behaviour on being hypnotised!).